“I’m not used to being addressed as a senator yet,” Sen. David Schnoor said. “That still catches me off guard.”

Schnoor, from Scribner, was actually sworn in four weeks ago. He replaced Charlie Janssen, who was elected State Auditor. Schnoor will join a freshman class that knows they have to hit the ground running.

“We have big issues that we have to address,” Sen. Robert Hilkemann said. “We want Nebraska to grow. We want economic development to come.”

Hilkemann, from Omaha, says property tax relief is high on his list, but there are a number of other issues, including easing prison overcrowding and problems in the Departments of Corrections and Health and Human Services, too.

“I do feel excited to look at those issues, and I think we can make a difference on the prison issue and save Nebraskans some money,” Sen. Patty Pansing Brooks said.

Pansing Brooks, from Lincoln, is one of five Democrats in the new group. She isn’t overly concerned about a conservative shift or working in what’s supposed to be a nonpartisan Legislature.

“I know we can work together,” Pansing Brooks said. “We all have the same concerns, care about Nebraska.”

“We have to work together to move this state forward, and you don't get there by butting heads with one another,” Hilkemann said.

Long-time senators believe that new Gov. Pete Ricketts has made all of the right moves so far.

“He's been nothing but civil and cordial in our relationship so far, and I'm optimistic we are going to find a lot more common ground,” Sen. Heath Mello said.

“He's reached out to us, and I think he really wants to work with the Legislature,” Sen. Galen Hadley said.

Lawmakers convene at 10 a.m. Wednesday and are scheduled to go to June 5.